Australia’s biggest solar farm proposed for Gympie

A $2 billion solar farm, which would become the largest in Australia, has been proposed for South-East Queensland.

Solar Q has lodged a development application with Gympie Regional Council this week to build a 350MW solar and battery storage facility, to be located about 30km north-west of Gympie.

The project will be built in stages, with initial approval being sought for a 350MW facility, however, within four years this could be increased to 800MW – or enough electricity to power about 315,000 homes.

Managing director Scott Armstrong told ABC the facility would be the largest in Australia once complete.

“To give you an idea of size, at ultimate design it will provide around 15 per cent of south-east Queensland’s energy requirements from both the solar panels and the 4000MWh of energy storage,” Mr Armstrong said.

He said the solar farm would supply power to the electricity grid via an existing substation at Lower Wonga, which would feed energy to Kilkivan, Gympie and Palmwoods.

“It will cover the Caboolture, Beerwah areas and also feed into north Brisbane and it also has a capability of feeding north back up into Gin Gin, back up into Central Queensland so it is a significant connection point,” Mr Armstrong said.

The project will be made up of around three million solar panels located on a 17sq km site.

It would create 450 jobs during construction, which is expected to start by the end of the year.

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